The Deutsche Bank Championship is still alive and well.
Deutsche Bank exercised its two-year option for the second round of the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup in 2011 and 2012 and will have EMC Corporation as a presenting sponsor. EMC Corporation, a Founders Cup Partner of the tournament since its inception in 2003, is a Hopkington, Mass-based company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with $16 billion in annual revenue that specializes in information infrastructure solutions.
"As Mark Twain once said, 'The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated,' " Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, said during a press conference at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., where the $7.5 million tournament starts Friday. "As I've said all along, and really for the last eight years, we've had an amazing experience with the tour, and it's been an absolute home run for us in every way. We think about it in terms of our brand. We think about it in terms of our clients.
"Today is the biggest day of the year for us in a lot of ways in that respect. And we think about it in terms of the good it does for the local communities and through charities as well as the economic development aspect of it. We've been told we raise about $60 or $70 million of revenues brought to the region every year, and if you add it up over eight years, it's roughly half a billion dollars, which is real money. And I think someone once told me when I started in the business that the best thing you can ever do for the world or for the economy is to create a job, and I'm hoping that in $500 million there's a number of jobs that have been created out here.
"Our view is that it's never been more important to do that than it is today, frankly, given the state of the world. We're pretty proud of what we've built and have tried every year to raise the bar in different ways -- going green, becoming part of The (PGA TOUR) Playoffs (for the FedExCup), thanks to (commissioner) Tim (Finchem), our military efforts which we announced (Wednesday) in New York, and here, on‑site, as well, and frankly this announcement is another aspect of that.
"We are proud to say that we have added a presenting local sponsor. ... And I'll tell you guys this, when we came up with the idea, I made one phone call, and that phone call was to the man to my right, Bill Scannell (executive vice president of sales for EMC). The first phone call I made was to the tour to make sure this was a good idea. The second call was to Bill, and Bill loved the idea right off the bat.
"We really think bringing in EMC is going to raise the bar for us yet again. As I always said, we're proud of what we've built, but we don't have an enormous pride of authorship, so we're open to ideas. EMC has been one of our founding partners from the beginning, so really the way to think about it is them stepping up their involvement. ... We think this partnership will guarantee that the Deutsche Bank Championship will be in
The new alliance was announced after Waugh played in the pro-am with Scannell and 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship winner Tiger Woods, whose foundation is the chief beneficiary of the tournament. During media day Aug. 2, Waugh hinted the global banking firm might not pick up its option because it has been losing money in a recessionary international economy for years. The bank's European PGA Tour commitment ended in 2009, but its spot on the PGA Tour remains intact.
Deutsche Bank originally signed a four-year extension that went into effect in 2007 and coincided with the Deutsche Bank Championship's alignment with the playoffs. This week's tournament marked the end of that agreement, but now it will continue that's to EMC upping its ante.
"We've been thrilled to be part of the Deutsche Bank Championship for the past eight years," Scannell said. "We get a lot out of it, and we're thrilled that it gives a lot back to the community and the local charities. And as Seth said, when he called me, it was a very quick conversation, and we said, 'Yeah, we're all in, we'd love to do this with you guys.'
"We're right down the road so it makes a lot of sense for us, for our local customers and employees and, as I said, certainly the community and local charities. So we're very excited."
Scannell then sounded like Travelers vice president and CEO Andy Bessett when he announced the Hartford-based insurance giant was becoming the title sponsor of Connecticut's annual PGA Tour stop in 2008 and again last year, when he announced an extension through 2014.
"We started 15 years ago with the EMC golf skills, which was a made-for-TV event with the PGA, and then we did the World Golf," Scannell said. "We had to kind of pull back our investment in 2000 when things were kind of going bad. But the time seems right to get back in and, as I said earlier, there's a lot of good reasons to do this.
"We like the affiliation with the tour. We love the affiliation with Deutsche Bank. They're a large customer of ours and we're a large customer of theirs, and it's just a real good partnership and some real good friendships. It's just that now seemed like the right time to get back into this in a bigger way and support this event. And being a local company, it makes all the sense in the world to us."
Finchem said he was "delighted" with the development of the new partnership.
"The continuity of the relationships involved here is very, very important," Finchem said. "As Seth mentioned, the relationships have been the core of what's built this tournament, and when we have all the best players in the world playing in the playoffs, it's important to have a tournament staged at the quality level that we've seen here in order to communicate that effectively here and around the world. And that's what this partnership has provided.
"As far as Deutsche Bank goes, going back to the early days of having a vision of incorporating not just the fans, the sports fans in this terrific sports town, but also really bringing in the business community from
"EMC, who has been involved in the tournament since the early days, also has a past history with the PGA Tour directly, so we're very pleased with Billy Scannell and his executive team for their commitment, as well. It all adds up to a very positive development for the PGA Tour generally and for the Deutsche Bank going forward in a very special way."
When the Deutsche Bank Championship debuted, it marked the tour's return to the Boston market after the departure of the New England Classic in 1998. Adam Scott won the inaugural event, followed by Vijay Singh, Olin Browne and Woods. With the introduction of the FedExCup in 2007, the Deutsche Bank featured a memorable duel between Woods and Phil Mickelson, who prevailed with a two-stroke victory. Singh repeated as champion in 2008 on his way to the FedExCup title, and Steve Stricker captured last year's title by a stroke over Jason Dufner and Scott Verplank.
The new marriage (sorry to link the word with you, Tiger) will end officials of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell from continuing to consider moving into the Deutsche Bank Championship slot. In 2009, Travelers extended its title sponsorship through 2014, but tournament director Nathan Grube had said the event had considered a possible move for months but wouldn't have further comment until Deutsche Bank announced its decision.
It's too bad the Travelers Championship won't be moving from the week after the U.S. Open to Labor Day weekend, which was the tournament's time slot for many years after it began as the Insurance City Open at Wethersfield Country Club in 1952. But golf fans throughout New England will still have two PGA Tour events to watch each year, and that's a good thing.
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